XII. HON. ADAM W. SNYDER TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.
(From Belleville Advocate, April 17, 1908. Clipping, I.B.H.C.,—K11)
City of Washington, Jan. 5, 1838.
Rev. James Lemen,
[Collinsville, Illinois]
My Dear Friend:—To the letter which I wrote you a few days since I wish to add that the members of the Illinois delegation in Congress have read the letter you recently wrote me, and they are all willing and ready to assist in pressing the cause of the class of claimants whom you mentioned upon the attention of the government for a more liberal and generous allowance of lands. I have no further news to communicate, except that I believe Mexico's treachery and insolence will sooner or later call down upon her a severe chastisement from this country; and that our Southern friends in Congress are growing exasperatingly and needlessly sensitive on the slavery question, claiming that Jefferson's views would sustain their positions, not knowing the splendid secret of your father's (Rev. James Lemen, Sr.) anti-slavery mission under Jefferson's orders and advice, which saved Illinois and we might say the Northwest Territory, to freedom. In fact, the demands of slavery, if not controlled by its friends, will eventually put the country into a mood that will no longer brook its insolence and greed.
Yours in esteem and confidence,
A. W. Snyder.